Since my book came out, I find myself constantly creating graphics for my website - buttons to celebrate shortlistings and nominations, a profile pic that isn't just the front cover of my book.

I don't know how other authors (who aren't graphic designers like me) can cope. It surprises me that most (?) publishers don't have a dedicated designer tasked with churning out graphics for their authors' websites, blogs and marketing activities.

But we can't just download images anywhere online. Of all people, we authors have to be scrupulous about respecting intellectual property.

How do we keep our blogs, websites supplied with images if we aren't illustrators, photographers or designers who can create our own images?

You don't need high resolution images online. The printed page uses accumulations of dots to display images - which means you need high resolution images for anything that will see print. Computer screens use light to show images. So you don't need high res images - in fact, you need to AVOID using them otherwise your web page loads like treacle.

Blogs and web-builders reduce the resolution of images you upload online. That's why it takes so long when you upload photos to Facebook.

Yes, you can embed an image on your website from anywhere else if you know the url. But don't. Someone else is paying for the bandwidth. Everytime someone views the picture, they download it from that someone else's server which costs. It's stealing. And very bad manners.

Where to get images (if you're not making your own)

A graphic I made

when my book

got listed in a

Sunday Times list

Your publisher. A little bit of foresight and negotiation could save an author so much aggravation. You need your book cover of course - but if your publisher has an inhouse graphic artist, you could also negotiate a bookcover graphic with the words 'Out in February' or whatever useful announcement you need. Make a list of possible graphics you could use on your website (Out soon buttons, In the shops now buttons, Award-winning buttons, etc.). Then ask. They might even say yes.

Flickr and other photo enthusiast sites. Read up on Creative Commons, a licensing system by which big hearted artistic types can share their work with the world for free (or not). You can ask permission from the image creators if they haven't declared their images under Creative Commons.

Here is where you can search Flickr according to the various Creative Commons licenses:

For example - I searched under Attribution License for 'reading' and found this beautiful picture:

Clicking on 'Actions' gave me the option to see 'All Sizes' so I could pick the right size for my blog. The license is 'Some Rights Reserved' and clicking on those words gives me the specifics - that I am free to copy it but I must give the author credit. Here's the credit (I've linked to the photographer's Flickr photostream to show that I respected his wishes) : Photo by Passion of Bilwa

Paid for photo stock sites like Fotolia, Shutterstock, iStockPhoto -shop around - the prices vary widely ... and remember, you don't need high resolution files or even big files.

How to create graphics like logos and headers

Having obtained an image, how do you create the header, button, blog graphic that you need? You might want to add text on top or crop it or turn it into a particular shape.

Well, what you need is image manipulation software. The best ones allow you to layer text and other images on top of your chosen image. You can add shadows and effects. You can resize, crop, retune an image.

Here are some options:

Photoshop - well, yeah, that's the best there is. But it's taken ME years to master it. That's because it's an essential tool for my day job. So if you have no interest in becoming a web and graphic designer, and the prospect of shelling out for Photoshop (about £600plus on Amazon) makes you want to slash your wrists, there are cheaper possibilities. Download a free trial

Photoshop Elements - it's a cut down version of Photoshop. I've got a very old version so I can't tell you what Version 9 currently retailing on Amazon is like. You don't need all the whizz bang of Photoshop, so why not download a free trial and find out if you like it.

Photoplus - my friend Paolo Romeo recommended Photoplus as a very able and probably easier to use Photoshop replacement for people who just want to do basic things. It actually uses layers like Photoshop, AND it can read Photoshop files (do correct me if I'm wrong ... I haven't got a copy). I've seen what Paolo can do with it which is impressive.There is a free starter version (here's a review) - download it here. If you like it, you might consider buying the full version.

If you're using a PC, Windows has a free photo editor Windows Live Photo Gallery that comes packaged with Windows Live Essentials. Download it here. It's not hugely complicated to use if you're just cropping, improving a dark photo, making colours brighter. I use it on my netbook when I'm on the road.

If you're using a Mac, you can use iPhoto which comes with your computer to do basic edits like cropping and improving. I didn't find it as intuitive as the Windows Photo Gallery but that might just be me ... besides one gets the hang of it quickly - it also has a neat trick of making it easy and quick to upload images to an album on Facebook or Flickr. Be aware though that you have to import existing images into iPhoto and if you need them say, as a jpg, you need to export. It uses up hard drive like there's no tomorrow.

I'd love to hear from anyone who can suggest easy, affordable ways to edit images (oh, before someone mentions it, there's Gimp, it's free but it gave me a headache so I'm not recommending it here) - leave your suggestions in the comments please!

That's it!

I was going to give tips on how not to look like an amateur but I thought that might put people off. Just remember that these are not tools for their own sake but for COMMUNICATING your message.

http://www.irfanview.com (For WINDOWS)Freeware software for downloading. Easy to use. Allows manipulation and editing of images in many file types. Also allows you to compress the file size for websites with a plug-in. If required for commercial use, a very small fee is payable to use the software. I use Irfanview daily to view images without bothering to open Photoshop!